Aziz Alakbarli: Asphalt roads built over 12 Azerbaijani cemeteries in Armenia

In Armenia, asphalt roads have been constructed over 12 cemeteries belonging to Azerbaijanis, Chairman of the Western Azerbaijan Community and MP Aziz Alakbarli said at the international scientific conference titled Return to Western Azerbaijan: As a New Stage of the National Idea.

Report quotes him as saying that despite repeated appeals by the Community to Armenia for dialogue, no positive response has been received:

"During the last deportation, during 1987–1991, more than 200 peaceful compatriots were brutally killed by Armenians, over 400 were injured, and Azerbaijanis expelled from nearly 300 settlements suffered material damage amounting to $2.5 billion in private property and $17.5 billion in public assets. According to international evaluation standards, after 38 years, this damage today amounts to hundreds of billions of US dollars. If we add the destruction of underground and aboveground resources and cultural monuments, the losses multiply. The moral damage, however, cannot be compensated by any amount."

Alakbarli stated that during recent monitoring of 201 Azerbaijani cemeteries in Armenia carried out by the Western Azerbaijan Community, it was determined that twelve had asphalt roads built over them:

"In addition, residential houses have been built on sixteen cemeteries, fifty-six cemeteries have been turned into farmland, six cemeteries have been reused for burials and converted into Armenian cemeteries, sixty-seven cemeteries have been vandalized, four cemeteries have been replaced with industrial and production facilities, five cemeteries have been used for military fortifications, thirty-two cemeteries have been subjected to construction works, and three cemeteries have had water reservoirs built on them."